Football clubs to lose £110 million if betting companies banned from shirts

Premier League and Championship clubs will lose £110 million per year if a Government review of gambling, launched today, leads to a ban on betting companies supporting football shirts.

8 of 20 (40%) clubs in the Premier League are currently reliant upon shirt sponsors from the gambling business, which brings in around £70m. In addition, the EFL, clubs benefit from £40m in sponsorship and commercial arrangements with the league

In the Premier League this season, West Ham, Wolves, Burnley, Southampton, Leeds, Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Fulham all have betting companies on the front of their shirts, while Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion have gambling firms on their shirt sleeves.

But the financial blow for football from any changes to rules will be even greater if the review leads to wider curbs on betting companies’ involvement.

Earlier this year, a House of Lords Select Committee on gambling recommended that not only should shirt sponsorship be banned by 2023, but ‘there should also be no gambling advertising in or near any sports grounds or sports venues’.

Currently betting company sponsorship includes, pitch side posters, partnerships and sponsorship of training kit.

Bookmakers are also still able to show television adverts during the build-up and post-match analysis on live televised sport.

The long-awaited review of the 2005 Gambling Act aims to update legislation to provide greater consumer protection in the digital age, which has seen the losses of punters rocket to £14.4 billion per year in 2019.

The review is driven by concern at the number of problem gamblers, which is estimated at 430,000 in Britain. and the pervasiveness of betting in sport, and football in particular.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, said: ‘Whilst millions gamble responsibly, the Gambling Act is an equivalent law in a digital age.

‘From an age of having a flutter in a high street bookmaker, casino, racetrack or seaside harbour, the business has evolved at rapid speed.